


I Am Your Foolish King

by HisWarrior



Series: One of Two Ways [7]
Category: Chris Barnett - Fandom, Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Original Work, TikTok - Fandom
Genre: @thechrisbarnett, Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29988675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HisWarrior/pseuds/HisWarrior
Summary: A sharp pang ran across my chest, and I doubled over with a grunt.(“You are a vile, disgusting monster. I will never love you.”)The princess whom I would marry.(“Choose a bride that won’t start a war.”)The woman I could not stop loving.Forgive me, my beloved. Forgive me.Part 3 of Version 2 of this series. Finale.
Series: One of Two Ways [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935394





	I Am Your Foolish King

There was nothing but the roar in my ears. The beast of my own mind. If I had been a lesser man, the roar would have cowed me.

Instead, it intrigued me. Giving way to thought and emotion that I had only ever dared to imagine. Desires I had never dared outside the dark.

My gaze held the expanse of the horizon, the last rays of the golden sun sinking below the hills. The roar grew in intensity. The sun became a fire, and the inferno burned the kingdom below me.

Soon. Very soon. Either the kingdom would burn, or I would. Burn with my pride, my anger, my lust. Sudden lust for power, ambition.

My breath caught in my throat.

No. That was not wholly true.

The lust I felt; my truest desire. I felt the lust for light. The deep burn of passion for a pierce in the darkness that had crowded me in the roar and inferno.

_Burn me in that inferno. Punish me in my desire._

But a king was not without his kingdom. And if I burned, it would all go with me.

Burn in war. Or burn in terror. Terror that I would force my court, my citizens, my people in the same way I would force the hand that I was to marry. Force them into the despicable and impossible.

A sharp pang ran across my chest, and I doubled over with a grunt.

**_“You are a vile, disgusting monster. I will never love you.”_**

The princess whom I would marry.

_ “Choose a bride that won’t start a war.”_

The woman I could not stop loving.

_Forgive me, my beloved. Forgive me._

Because now, a war would not be started for her. But it would begin because of her. Because of her and the impossible choice I had given her. The cruel decision the court had caused her to make.

Suddenly, the door to my chamber was shoved open. Two men of my court, nobles who I no longer cared to remember the names of, dragged between them a bedraggled woman, long hair covering her face, head bowed low.

“Her crimes are against you,” one of them stated, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. “Punish her as you would see fit.”

The other, not for a moment pretending to hide his glee, grasped the woman’s hair.

“Look upon your king,” he jeered, then pulled her face to look on mine.

The inferno died with a sudden inability to breathe. A sea of green stared back at me, hidden in dirt streaked hair framing a pale, pale face.

I could not acknowledge the pair of nobles as they unceremoniously threw her to the floor, leaving us staring at one another as though strangers.

Perhaps we were.

Her eyes did not flicker from mine. But her limbs trembled, shaking her entire frame.

That awoke the beast within me. The beast that had slept for all of a minute at seeing her again. The roar deafening in my ears.

I was upon her in the time it took to breathe. Hauling her to her feet, I had just enough time to register how cold her skin was and that her gaze had still not broken from mine. Then my lips were on hers.

The roar was all I heard as I pressed against her, hungry for her, starving for the light she had taken with her.

Her fingers, like frozen fire, danced on the skin around my neck, and she pulled me closer. Responding back. Drinking my darkness.

The fire, the inferno, the roar, calmed. It cooled. It quieted. And now, another sound was reaching my ears. The sound of labored, wheezing breathing.

I pulled from her the next instant, eyes widening with growing fear as the sound turned into heaving coughs. She turned her face away, coughing into her sleeve.

All at once, it seemed to much for her, and she collapsed in my arms, shaking as she tried to breathe.

I set her gently on the ground, following after and wrapping my arms around her. When had she gotten so small? But maybe she was always this size. She had always seemed larger than life to me.

But holding her close as she wheezed again, I felt my breath hitch, fingers too easily able to feel her ribs.

Finally, her breathing calmed, and she rested her head against my shoulder, clutching her arms around my chest as if I might disappear.

Something hard and sharp clung in my throat, and I could do nothing but hold her closer to me, drinking her in, breathing her scent, as the sharpness inside of me leaked from my eyes. The inferno following with it.

“Drew,” she whispered. Softly. Gently. No fire. No sharp edges. No roar.

A sob escaped me, wracking my chest. Followed by another.

“It was so dark,” I cried. “Everything was so dark.”

“I know,” she replied, her voice so sad and strained. “I’m…”

“No!” I barked, clutching her tighter, letting her leech the warmth from me. “You are not,” I sobbed. “And I do not want you to be. Please do not be.”

_Beloved Ruth. Do not be sorry for the monster you did not make._

Her hands loosened, and she pulled away. Dirty hands, frozen fingers, took either side of my face and turned them to look back at her. The emerald gaze that had caught me since the beginning.

“But I am,” she replied, before pulling me and kissing me.

Her lips were gentle where mine had demanded. Life and light where mine had been hunger and darkness.

I pulled her closer again, and she adjusted to the movement. I deepened the kiss, and she responded without hesitation.

We pulled apart at the same moment, eyes dazed upon each other. Her fingers stroked my cheeks, warmer now than they had been before.

“I love you,” she whispered. _I forgive you._

“You shouldn’t.” _You can’t._

“I do.” _I can._

“Why?” _I’m sorry._

“I know you.” _I forgive you._

“I don’t.” _After all I have done?_

“I will help you remember.” _In spite of all you’ve done._

“You are a foolish girl,” I said.

“Perhaps,” she replied, a grin teasing on her lips. “But I am your foolish girl.”

“I’ve placed my kingdom at risk,” I countered. “And this court has even more control over me than they ever did before.”

“It is a very lucky thing then that your Captain of the guard, the servants of your household, and the woman who loves you are still your loyal subjects and have had much work on their hands.”

“What?!”

“Darling,” she whispered, pulling me close once more. “Did you think I would truly abandon you to the devices of such men?” Her gaze grew serious. “There is much you need to be told.”

“Later,” I promised, tightening my grip around her once more. Caressing her gently, kissing her tenderly. Each gentle touch, every whispered word, killing the roar and freezing the inferno. Forever.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the finale of my series. Thank you so much for reading. Hope you all enjoyed.
> 
> And if anyone wants to be super kind and share these with @thechrisbarnett, this artist would much appreciate it.


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